The Motion Picture Association of America, headed by former Sen. Chris Dodd, is prepping a campaign in support of controversial antipiracy legislation, known as SOPA.AP

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Hollywood strikes back!

The Motion Picture Association of America and its member studios are planning a $3 million print and online ad blitz to beat back opponents of controversial Internet anti-piracy legislation, The Post has learned.

Sources said the major Hollywood studios yesterday hashed out the details of a campaign to back the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, which is encountering stiff opposition from Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies.

In addition to the MPAA, a group called the Creative Coalition, repping unions among others, is running a pro-SOPA ad campaign.

The public-relations and ad push will stress the value of protecting content creators from piracy, with a message that will focus on preserving US jobs. “They’re getting the Hollywood unions involved and talking about getting the Screen Actors Guild to weigh in,” said one source familiar with the talks.

The Directors Guild of America is also believed to be helping the effort.

The MPAA has drafted Washington DC shop Glover Park Group to help with the campaign. Ironically, the political strategy shop, now part of ad giant WPP Group, was founded by Joe Lockhart, one of Facebook’s top public relations executives.

Meanwhile, MPAA chief Christopher Dodd defended his handling of two Congressional efforts to curb online piracy — SOPA in the House and its companion Senate bill, the Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA.

Both bills suffered major blows this week after Google and Wikipedia joined online protests decrying the bills as a form of censorship.

“Ten days ago, the bill had unanimous support. I’d say we did very well,” Dodd told The Post.

“Can you anticipate an Arab Spring?” he said, referring to the widespread Internet revolt over the bill, which had hacker group Anonymous posting the personal info of execs at entertainment companies.

Still, one industry source said: “This is a black eye for Dodd. There was a level of arrogance at the MPAA.”